At the end of her essay, Katha Pollitt asks, “Why is it so hard for us to see that the tragedy of Adam Dorris is inextricable from the tragedy of his mother? Why is her loss — to society, to herself — so easy to dismiss?” (298). How does your perspective on the potential conflict between fetal rights and maternal rights compare with Pollitt’s? Do you see the privileging of fetal rights in late-20th-century American law and culture as part of the backlash against feminism?
